1804-November-21: French chargé Pichon reported to Talleyrand with growing alarm that American newspapers were increasingly adopting the revolutionary name “…

1804-November-21: French chargé Pichon reported to Talleyrand with growing alarm that American newspapers were increasingly adopting the revolutionary name “Haity” in their reports. He warned that while Great Britain was actively seeking a commercial monopoly on the island, Dessalines had so far resisted granting them exclusive trade rights. Pichon noted that British agents in the United States and American merchantmen were in frequent communication with the Haitian envoy Joseph Bunel. The Frenchman feared that if the United States did not act to suppress this intercourse, the island would be “irrevocably” detached from French influence. This report underscored the shifting nomenclature as a sign of the island’s hardening status as an independent entity.